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A video of the event is available on the Indivisible North County YouTube page.
By Jesse Kendrick
Image: Rep. Sara Jacobs addresses the 48th district’s constituents next to masked mockery of Rep. Darrell Issa.
August 1, 2025 (Escondido) — Jeering laughter filled the halls of the California Center for the Arts on Sunday as a man in a rubber chicken mask imitated Congressman Darrell Issa before a crowd of hundreds of his constituents.
According to organizers, the stunt sought to highlight Issa’s alleged fear of facing dissatisfied voters, marking the second empty chair town hall hosted in California’s 48th Congressional District since March. This time, neighboring Democratic Congresswoman Sara Jacobs took a seat beside the bird-faced effigy of her absent Republican colleague.
Issa, whose 48th district includes swaths of East County San Diego, North County San Diego, the Mountain Empire and Riverside County, has not held a town hall since 2017, opting instead to host extravagant fundraisers outside of his district.
Sunday’s event was organized by Indivisible North County, the local chapter of a national nonprofit whose stated mission is to “defeat the rightwing takeover of American government and build an inclusive democracy.”
Jacobs opened her remarks by slamming H.R.1, the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act”, which slashed Medicaid funding while earmarking more than $170 billion in additional funds for immigration enforcement. The congresswoman claimed that approximately one in four San Diegans rely upon Medicaid for healthcare, noting that rural areas like the 48th district would be especially impacted by cuts.
When asked how everyday citizens can make an impact, Jacobs discouraged constituents from copying and pasting mass E-mails to their representatives, a strategy she called ineffective. Instead, Jacobs turned her sights to those whom Republican lawmakers had left behind. She encouraged the audience to focus on building unity by welcoming disillusioned Trump voters who may now feel that they’ve been misled.
“I know that it is going to feel tempting to tell them ‘I told you so …’” Jacobs warned, going on to cite studies suggesting that “when you argue with people, they harden their position … actually talking to your friends and neighbors — that's how we break through the noise.”
The conversation quickly shifted to election integrity and the 2026 Congressional midterms. Representative Jacobs accused Republican leadership of openly “cheating”, referring to Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s plan to redraw congressional districts in his state. Detractors like Jacobs have characterized the move as gerrymandering, claiming it will unduly award Republicans a disproportionate number of House seats. Should the plan be enacted, California Governor Gavin Newsom has threatened to carry out reciprocal strategic redistricting.
The congresswoman praised Newsom’s initiative and noted that overturning independent redistricting commissions would take the form of a ballot initiative, which she urged the audience to support. “If Texas tries to get five more Republican seats by gerrymandering, then we’re going to have to do the same in California.”
Image, left: Rep. Sara Jacobs poses with Indivisible North County organizer Pam Albergo
At one point, the town hall was almost derailed by progressive demonstrators shouting “Palestine!” It was a rare moment of hostility from an otherwise supportive crowd. The event moderator responded by assuring the audience that questions about Palestine would be addressed at a later time.
Jacobs’ mixed voting record on Israel’s ongoing military occupation of Palestine, which Amnesty International has formally characterized as a “genocide”, has drawn criticism from both sides of the aisle.
In April of 2024, an Op-Ed for San Diego Jewish World criticized Jacobs for “numerous stands against Israel” and called into question her romantic relationship with Palestinian-American Ammar Campa-Najjar. That same month, the leftwing group Track AIPAC accused the Democratic congresswoman of “actively abetting a genocide” by voting for an Israeli military aid package. The group claimed she accepted $96,390 from the “pro-Israel lobby.”
When the conversation circled back to Palestine, Jacobs, who is Jewish herself, condemned hate crimes against the Jewish community and urged voters to distinguish anti-Semitism from “legitimate criticism of the policies of the State of Israel.” Jacobs tried to assuage demonstrators’ concerns by bringing up her introduction of the Block the Bombs Act, which would cease offensive military aid to Israel “while horrible things in Gaza are ongoing.”
Audience members erupted into chaos for the next several minutes, with one faction demanding more committed answers and the other shouting at them to “shut up!” One voice broke through the noise, asking, “Is it a genocide, congresswoman? Is it genocide: yes or no?” Jacobs dodged the question, responding “Genocide is a technical legal determination that I think is, like, a different conversation.”
The young congresswoman regained control of the room with more unifying talking points: condemning the new ICE budget, denouncing tax cuts for billionaires, and advocating for nonviolent resistance.
Jacobs avoided characterizing ICE operations as “racist” or identifying particular ethnic groups impacted by the enforcement measures. Instead, Jacobs spoke on the toll ICE raids have had on the community at large, such as a chilling effect on educational participation and crime reporting. “We are already seeing a drop in school enrollment”, she warned, “we’re already seeing less crimes being reported because people are worried that if they report a crime, they might be investigated for their immigration status. That doesn’t make any of us safer.”
When pressed on the matter, Jacobs disclosed that she exercised congressional oversight by visiting immigrant detention centers in Guantanamo Bay and Otay Mesa. “Look, I’m not naïve”, she shared, “I know when I show up, they have cleaned up the whole thing … but just being able to show up and ask those questions helps situations.” She went on to say that detainees had not been allowed to fill out legal forms requesting congressional assistance, so the congresswoman hand-delivered the necessary paperwork and waited as they were signed. She asked of the audience: “When you hear stories about what’s happening in those detention centers, please share it with me.”
Jacobs ended her remarks by reiterating her call to action: have candid conversations with your Republican loved ones. As she stood to exit, the audience broke into a chant, repeatedly shouting, “Tax the rich!”
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